Read: Ruth 2:1-4:22, John 4:43-54, Psalm 105:16-36, Proverbs 14:26-27

So Ruth went out to gather grain behind the harvesters. And as it happened, she found herself working in a field that belonged to Boaz, the relative of her father-in-law, Elimelech.
Ruth 2:3

Relate: Take a moment and think over the five most influential days of your life. I am not necessarily talking about the five greatest days in your life, but rather those days that had an impact on the trajectory of your life for good or for bad. For many of you, the day you came to Christ would certainly be one of those. What about the day you decided to pursue the career you are in? Or perhaps the day when house hunting, you first saw the place you have now been living in for decades? Perhaps it was a day like 9/11. For me that day started out just like any other. I was a youth pastor in Rochester New York at the time and I showed up to work that morning just like it was any other day of my life. Little did I know. I could also say that about the day my father suddenly died from a head injury playing basketball. I was a college student at Central Bible College and just got off a shift working maintenance at the AG national headquarters when I got home and took the call from my sister. That was the longest night of my life what with not knowing anything except that he was in the hospital in critical condition. While moping floors and breaking down boxes, I had no idea that a tragedy was occurring that would forever change who I am and what family meant to me. I am single but perhaps you listed among your top five the day you got married. Obviously, you knew going into that day that it was going to be a special one for you. But what about the day you met your future spouse for the first time? What were you doing that morning? Did you have any idea, even by the end of the day all that God had in store with you through that fateful encounter?

React: It was a day like just like that for Ruth and Boaz. She had no idea what God had in store when she asked if she could go out and work as a day laborer that morning. What if she decided not to go? It was her hard work and her diligence, just as much as her beauty that first drew Boaz’s eye. What if she decided not to give her all? What if she found herself thinking, “It’s a hot one today. Yes we need to eat, but I’ve already collected enough for us to scrape by for a day or two. I think I will pack it in early.” Nobody was forcing her to work and to work hard. Nobody was tying her down and making her work that field. It was her choice and her choice alone that field when “as it happened,” Boaz passed by. Is it possible that other choices, perhaps to call in sick or to put in only a minimal effort, would have led toward missing this divine destiny? Is it possible that our lack of diligence has caused us to miss similar divine destinies that God had ready to “just so happen” if only willing to do the hard grind of ordinary work?

Respond: 

Dear God,
Don’t let me ever miss out on what You might have for me because I skipped out on giving my all as if it were for only You. We never really know, I never really know when an “as it happened” moment might be right around the corner. Help me to live in the expectation that You can intervene in my life at any moment in any way You choose. Help me to have the sensitivity to recognize the divine appointments You might have for me, or perhaps You might have me to be for someone else. Do miracles in and through my life. And let them come even on the most ordinary of days.
Amen